He also emphasized that Turkey is increasingly becoming an important destination for conferences and conventions. Keloglu noted that the industry expects 20,000 people will visit Turkey in 2009 to participate in major conferences. At the top of the list comes a World Water Forum, with World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings scheduled to take place in Turkey next year.

“It used to be concentrated in Istanbul and other big cities,” says Keloglu, adding: “That is no longer the case. More and more luxury hotels and resorts are being built, especially concentrated along the Aegean and Mediterranean coastlines. They offer huge convention and conference facilities away from metropolitan cities.”

Still, though, big cities like Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are the obvious choice for convention planners and conference organizers as they are major attraction and entertainment centers. “As a result of the peak season being filled to capacity in Istanbul, we have seen new hotels appearing on the city’s skyline,” he said. In the last two years alone, almost 40 licenses to operate four- or five-star hotels have been approved. “This might ease the congestion and may alleviate the heavy demand on the hotel industry,” Keloglu notes.

Part of Wyndham Worldwide, Ramada operates four hotels in Turkey — three in Istanbul and one in Ankara. Keloglu explains that the chain has 6,550 hotels with 551,000 rooms and is active in 59 countries in six continents. “We are both a business and leisure hotel company,” he stresses. Ramadaresorts specifically target leisure travelers while Ramada Hotel and Suites provide luxurious amenities to both business and leisure travelers. Ramada Encore, conversely, is designed for budget travelers and offers economical and competitive rates.